DONEGAL FULL-BACK NEIL McGee says his side are under no illusions about the magnitude of the task ahead, as they prepare for their All-Ireland final encounter with Mayo this weekend.

Donegal have been gaining accolades for their innovative and highly effective brand of football of late, but Mayo have looked equally impressive on their run to the final.

McGee, however, says he is well aware of their prowess, particularly in attack:

“When you look at them scoring 19 points against Dublin the last day and we scored six points against them last year, we felt they were nearly impossible to break down, in fairness to them. The way they cut through, I was very impressed with them.

“Cillian O’Connor scored eight points the last day and he was involved in a lot of play and the couple of goal chances. He was full-forward but they were kinda rotating too, Michael Conroy looks very dangerous and very sharp, and then you have Alan Dillon who sets up a lot of the play. They’ve a lot of danger men and they’re playing as a team and they’re coming from deep.”

The Donegal side is not drastically dissimilar to the one that failed in its bid to win the All-Ireland last year, after narrowly losing 0-08 to 0-06 against Dublin at the semi-final stage. So what\’s changed since then?

“Not much has changed,” he says. “Coming into this year, we had good core work done last year and it stood to us this year. Maybe we could concentrate more on football this year because we had done the hard work last year. We’ve done the hard work this year too but we’ve done a lot more on our own ourselves.”

And as regards Jim McGuinness\’ five-year plan for the side, McGee admits the players themselves pay little heed to such grand ideas.

“Maybe a manager has a five-year plan but as a player you only take it game by game. A few bad games and you could be gone so we take it game by game and see where it goes.”

Moreover, from a personal perspective, McGee says he\’s reasonably satisfied with his own performances this year, which, he notes, have involved no shortage of effort.

“It’s been up and down but this year I’ve marked their top player every day so it’s not easy. What you have to do when you’re marking the likes of Coulter or Cooper or Colm O’Neill is say to yourself that they’re going to get one ball. It’s just about staying strong and just do your best to stick to them more than anything.”

A further especially satisfying aspect of this year\’s Championship for him personally has been witnessing the rise of his younger brother, Peter, who has emerged as a footballer of promise.

“It’s a huge thing. He was thinking about going to Australia before the summer but we talked him into staying. It’s a good experience for him, coming up training, and will bring him on leaps and bounds.”

Another Donegal player who has caught the eye recently has been Neil Gallagher. And while his performance against Cork may have surprised some people, McGee claims he always recognised Gallagher\’s considerable talent.

“We’re delighted but I read in a few papers that it was out of the blue or something but we see it every night. When he’s fielding there is no one like him about. He’s a big battle now and Barry Moran has played brilliant stuff all year fielding the ball. That’ll be one of the highlights of the game, them two.”

Though Donegal were also extremely impressive as a unit for the most part against Cork, there is a sense that they took their foot off the pedal to an extent towards the end of the game, allowing their opponents to score a late goal and make it an uncomfortable final few moments.

“The one thing about being a full-back that you pride yourself on is not conceding goals. We’ve been doing pretty well up to this but that late goal, whether they deserved it or not, it still went in. It doesn’t matter whether it was 72nd or the first minute, it still went in. It’s something we’re working on.”

Consequently, McGee knows the side are likely to struggle should they adopt such a lax attitude on Sunday, nor can they necessarily expect to dominate in terms of physicality, as they have done against sides in the past.

“We played them in a couple of friendlies and you can see a different age about them. It’s definitely something James Horan has brought into their game. They’re matching with the likes of Dublin who everyone says is the most physical team in the county. You saw what they did to Dublin for 55 minutes. It was impressive.”

And should McGee and his teammates triumph this weekend, it will be the first time they have won the competition since 1992 – an occasion the player barely remembers.

“I remember watching it on the couch but that was about it. I want to create my own memories now.”